At times, the two-story white house with bright blue shutters and columns that seem to reach for the sky was mistaken for a church in Miami's Overtown neighborhood.
But for 80-year-old Benjamin Brown, the property that had been in his family since 1917 always meant just one thing: home.
Now it's empty, bought up by the Florida Department of Transportation to make room for an expansion of the highway that, for years, has rumbled with traffic a few feet from his backyard. One day soon, the shell of the house will crumble under the assault of heavy machinery, and the hard-earned legacy of Brown’s Bahamian immigrant mother will be erased forever.
Read the full story at MiamiHerald.com.
Hear an interview with Benjamin Brown here:
OvertownBrown_-_SD_-_Greene.mp3
Listen to the radio version of this story.
